Hatching Idea - Will it work?

I often do dual hatching, ie a clutch under a hen and some in the machine. I wait until the machine chicks are hatched, dried off and standing (about half a day old) before putting under the hen, and put them under at night if you can. It's also easier if the hen already has some hatched chicks of her own but the timings should work out if both lots are set together.

If the hen suddenly acquires a load more eggs at day 18 you risk her rolling some out as she has to adjust to the new load, or she may even reject some so I would advise against this. You could probably get away with adding one or two but six I think probably not. I would leave it as you have set it up, 6 with the hen and 6 in the machine.

As long as you are confident your incubator is working fine then there shouldn't be a great deal of difference being hatched in the machine or under the hen (sometimes I think they hatch faster under a hen as she shuffles around on top of them but that's about it) and you get the fun of watching them hatch in the machine. But the chicks are definitely better off being raised by a hen so by doing it this way you have the best of both worlds.

Thanks RH for the advice. We'll see if she'd like some adopted chicks after they're hatched.

I've re-set the incy, lowered the daily humidity to 45% and will increase it to 60 - 65% after day 18. Any thoughts on this? I think we had it too low last time, then way too high after day 18. I have to admit to being very nervous about the incubator.

Jules

I was just reading about this in the Practical Poultry mag and it says that humidity should be as close to 35%, and not add any more water until the 18th day when you boost the humidity to 55-60%.

I can't wait to start my set's off next week. Good luck with yours and don't forget piccies

My incubator is a completely automatic one which adjusts the humidity itself. I don't have to do a thing except fill the water chamber! However I'm sure others on here will be able to advise you on the correct settings.

We've set it according to the manufacturer's instructions for humidity, but everything you read, PP Magazine, web pages etc vary hugely. It seems that everyone has their ideal settings - this is why I don't like my incy very much.

Jules

I know what you mean Jules. I bought mine s/h so no instructions. I tried 3 times last year and ended up with around 40% (overall) hatch rate which is abysmal. This year my last two hatches have been much better. I looked back at my figures and had 40/45% first 18 days, then 60/63% last three. but thats a Maino incubator. And realistically if its at 45% when I fill it in the morning it will be 30% sometimes by the time it gets topped up at night. Andrew (sold us the house, wyandotte addict..also now proud owner of at least one of my geeses offspring, more on the way) has an octogon, used their figures for his first couple of hatches, wasn't happy. Then an old hand at a show told him not to put in any water until the last three and he reckons that works. But I think background humidity can affect things. My house is a mid terrace with no central heating, so high background humidity anyway. You just have to keep tweaking, but if you are only having one or two hatches a year, in smaller numbers, then it can seem so hard.